Disclaimer: I don't own FE and whatever
Okay, thanks for the reviews for those that did review. I live for the reviews!
Sorry for not updating in a long while, and my reason is...uh...well, I got nothing.
New stats:
Ian: Assassin; age 18; weapon: Killing Edge, Audhulma
Lina: Sniper; age 17; weapon: Killer Bow, Brave Bow
THE TACTICIANS' WISH
Eliwood's and Hector's tale Chapter 10: The Dragon's Gate
Eastern sea, path to Elibe:
Ian sighed; he missed the sweet taste and large alcohol content of his favorite drink: Ilian rum. Having left for Magvel for a few months, he never had the chance to even drink one sip of even the crappiest beer, thanks to one light-green haired troubadour. He sighed again; the alcoholic assassin was bored as well. Then, an aquamarine haired lord walked up to him. "Something on your mind?" the lord asked.
"...Why are you coming back with us?" Ian asked the lord. "Lord Ephraim, why aren't you helping rebuild Renais?"
"...Seth can take care of it for now; besides, we have more important matters to worry about than one kingdom, right?"
"It's funny that you can say that; I mean, it's YOUR kingdom."
"It's funny that you're still sober."
"Touché...What do you think the guild master wants? Something concerning sacred weapons?"
"Hmm...and dragons, too. Where does he get all this information?"
"Don't ask me; no one's been able to figure that one out yet."
Ephraim, new king of Renais, decided to go help Ian and Lina back in Elibe after his army defeated the demon king Formortiis. His sister, Eirika, also decided to go with him. The others from his army that wanted to go as well included Lute, Innes, Tana, Joshua, L'Arachel, Natasha, Forde, Kyle, and Vanessa. Lute wanted to go study the species on a foreign land, as well as see some dragons. Everyone else pretty much wanted to go sightseeing. Ephraim had to remind them many times that this is a serious matter, but of course, no one paid any heed to him.
"...So what's our first destination?" Ephraim asked Ian.
"I think we should go to Ostia first to get some supplies; we were kind of rushed to catch this boat," Ian replied, leaning against the starboard railing on the ship. "As for me, I'm going to finally have some well-deserved nectar of the gods."
"Guys! We're under attack!" Lina called to Ian and Ephraim as she ran down to meet them. "Wyvern riders! They're coming from the port side of the ship! And they're armed to the teeth!"
"What? Who'd want to attack us?" Ephraim asked her, but the orange haired sniper just shrugged indicating that she had no answer to his question.
"Damn! I'll go get the others!" Ian cursed, and went below decks to the sleeping quarters to get the rest of the army above deck.
Soon, Natasha, Eirika, Lute, Innes, Joshua, and L'Arachel were above deck. The rest could not come up because they can't really fight without their mounts. "Great...We're short a few people, but we can take them! Lute, get your newly invented Aircalibur tome ready, and Innes, we're going to need Nidhogg out as well. Joshua, Eirika, get the Wyrmslayers out; they're in the storage room number...23, I think. Come on, people, get moving!" Lina instructed.
Soon, the wyvern riders were within sight of the small group of fighters. "...Elibian wyverns are different from ours, I think this one is called the Hiryuu Wyvern; the ones that wyvern lords use..." Lute told the group. "They don't give their riders a magical edge to their spears, but their claws and fangs can be poisonous. Try to fight it from far away."
"Red armored...Wait a second..." Ian said, putting up a pair of binoculars to his eyes. "Shit," he cursed. "It's the Eubans mercenary group. I can recognize their symbol anywhere...We'd best be careful; they're a dangerous group. Hmm...Innes! Lina! They're in our firing range now! Attack!"
Innes readied his sacred Nidhogg, and Lina readied her Brave Bow, loading four arrows in one shot. Innes took aim; his arrow started to glow blue, and its tip started to become ice cold. "Subzero Bolt!" Innes yelled. The sniper fired, and his arrow became enveloped by a gigantic aura of ice, piercing wyvern riders in its wake as it grew in size with each life it took, until it finally disappeared from the heat of air friction. His shot had cleared a long column of wyvern riders; about a tenth of the force, at least.
Lina's arrows started to glow after that as the sniper also took aim. The arrows started glowing yellow, and their tips crackled with electricity. "Stardust!" Lina yelled, then aimed her bow up high, and released her arrows. The arrows split into many more as they ascended, and homed down on the enemy. The entire front ranks of wyvern riders were electrocuted by the many bolts of electricity that rained down on them from above and from their left and right flanks. Only about five sixths of their force was left now, but the numbers were still large.
From there, Lina and Innes started sniping down any wyvern riders that came towards them with maddening speed; arrow after arrow they wasted, but their quivers were starting to become empty very quickly, even after using their energy attacks. "We're running out of arrows!" Innes complained.
"Let them come to us! We'll take it from here," Ian told him. Innes and Lina then fell back to let the close-range fighters take care of the rest.
The wyvern riders came in at once when Innes and Lina stopped firing; however, they were down to only a mere tenth of their forces. Joshua made quick work of them by jumping around like a monkey and doing mad stunts like running on walls to avoid attacks. Eirika stabbed her Seiglende here and there, while rolling around and parrying blows from oncoming riders. Ephraim was doing pretty good himself; his trusty Reginleif and Siegmund lances did a lot of stabbing that day. Lute, Natasha, and L'Arachel hid behind a room above deck to use their magic in the safe protectiveness of the walls. Ian ripped apart many unfortunate riders with his Audhulma and Killing Edge. Soon, the whole mercenary group was decimated.
Tactician's Guild:
Jack decided to visit the guild master to get some information on Mark, Ian, and Hiro, his friends that had left to go out to do their missions. He was about to knock on the door, but stopped when he heard a voice inside; Mua was talking with someone. About something serious too, it seems. Jack put his ear on the door to overhear the conversation.
"...So they have failed in taking care of the ones that defeated Formortiis?" a man croaked from inside the room.
"...What do you expect? They were just mercenaries; they couldn't have done anything against a group that DEFEATED THE DEMON KING!" Mua said angrily at the other man. "...What do we do now?"
"Well, we've analyzed them and how they work through this ingenious device I made. I think that their teamwork is good; they really cover each other's weaknesses well and can cooperate even under the toughest situations. However, they really do rely on the two tacticians you've sent for them. I suggest eliminating them first if you want this part of the plan to succeed. They cannot interfere with our plan. Once they meet with even one of the wielders of the sacred swords, our plan is ruined for sure."
"That might be the hard part. I only know the location of 4 of them. One of them, Muramasa, is in Sacae in the hands of a Chijan boy, the Diabolique is in the hands of a Sacaean girl; you know where she is. The Ragnarok is with her brother, who is presumably in Ostia, serving there as a mercenary. And finally, the Einharjar is with a Chijan girl, and you know where she is as well. We should act quickly; if any one of them finds out..."
"They'll what? They're only kids. They won't know how to use the swords; none of them are mature enough to use them to their full power."
"...We can't take that risk; it's best to use a plan without any holes in it."
"True. I shall send for another group to take care of them. And this one will not fail."
Then the conversation stopped as Jack heard a wooshing sound. Jack decided it was time to knock. He knocked on the door. He could hear Mua jump inside the room. "Come in," Mua called to the mercenary.
"Sir. I just want to know how my friends Mark, Hiro, and Ian are doing," Jack told Mua.
"Oh! Um...well...uh...I don't know if this is a good time. They're all probably quite busy..."
"Something wrong sir? You seem quite flustered."
"Oh...Um...No...no, nothing at all..."
"All right then..." and with that, Jack walked out of the room. Mua was behaving strangely, that's for sure. 'And who was that man Mua was talking to?' Jack thought. He was so deep in thought, when Irene and Kellia walked by, he didn't notice them. 'What were they talking about?...They were talking about Ian and Hilda...They went to Magvel to take care of this demon king business...but...why would Mua send people to attack them? This makes no sense! And...Hiro and Mitsuna; they're Chijan. And people from that continent are very few here...'
"...Did you see that?" Irene asked her friend, as the mercenary walked right past them. "Jack didn't try to flirt with us!...HE'S ON DRUGS!"
"Now now, let's not jump to conclusions...He's a scoundrel, but I don't think he'd stoop that low..." Kellia tried to argue. However, she's not really too good at doing that, being the quietest of her group of friends. "He's probably just...depressed, yeah, that's it..."
"...And YOU, of all people, YOU, the person who always rejects him by, um, let's see, kneeing his groin, slapping his face, punching his gut, pinching his arm, scratching him..., yeah, YOU are defending HIM!" Irene said loudly in disbelief, getting some weird looks from other people in the hall. "...Are you also on drugs?"
"...(sighs)...And you wonder why people think you're weird..." Kellia said quietly. Irene is the type of person who would easily jump to conclusions after looking at just a few bits of information. That's a double-edged sword for her; this could save many lives in an army when the strategist needs to act really quickly. However, when making the wrong decisions, you could lose many lives. Irene, however, is usually right. But not this time, because Kellia is the least likely person to even touch a cigarette. Kellia rolled her eyes.
"Hey, I'm serious here!"
"...Whatever. Let's just go..."
"NO! We are not moving until I get the truth out of you!" Irene said loudly again, this time snapping Jack out of his trance.
The mercenary looked back to see Irene rambling loudly about drugs and crack. He sighed; whenever she gets like this, she's impossible to stop. "...Irene," he greeted her as he walked towards the two. "...So who's a crackhead now?"
"Don't play dumb with me!"
"...I'm not on drugs, Irene."
"Reallllly?" Irene asked him, squinting her eyes, trying to get the truth out of his face.
"(sighs)...Yes, Irene, I'm not on drugs..."
"...You're safe...for now..." Irene said, walking away, pulling Kellia along with her. Then suddenly she turned so quickly, she made Jack jump and Kellia fall face first. "But you better watch you back."
"...Women..." Jack rolled his eyes, and went back to his room.
Dragon world:
Rodrak walked happily into the hot spring area he found to wait for Idoun; she should be arriving shortly. However, he didn't know that she wouldn't be there that day. Instead, her father went in her place. Alveen hid behind the trees from where Idoun usually came, and smirked. "ACTIVATE STOP RUNE!" he yelled. Rodrak's enhanced hearing caught the sound, and instinctively, Rodrak turned to the source of the sound. However, after that, he could feel nothing, see nothing, hear nothing, taste nothing and smell nothing. Alveen walked over to the immobile form of Rodrak, and laughed. "That was easy."
Some hours had passed. Xiphias was worried; Rodrak has not returned. His mind replayed the conversation he had with his son the day before...
"...Well, so you've found a mate already. Who is she?" Xiphias asked the young silver dragon.
"Her name's Idoun. She's the same age as I am; she says that she's Alveen's daughter."
"WHAT?"
"..."
"...Well...This can lead to two things; one good and the other, bad. The bad thing is that Alveen will bring out a full force attack in his fury on us, or do something bad to you. The good thing is that he will allow you mating his daughter, and stop attacking us, which I really doubt will happen. Regardless, I want you to go where you met her the day before, and ask her about what her father thinks," Xiphias instructed. "I only want the best for our kind."
"I know, father. I'll ask her tomorrow."
Xiphias snapped back to reality as his advisor barged into his hut. "Lord Xiphias, it is almost dawn again, and your younger son still has not returned. Shouldn't we be out looking for him?" the advisor asked the big silver dragon.
"...I'm afraid, if he has gone for this long, it may be too late. Tighten the security in our settlement; I'm sure Alveen is going to use my son for something..." Xiphias instructed his advisor, who then left to carry out the elder's orders. "It looks like I've underestimated you, Alveen..." Xiphias muttered under his breath.
Dread Isle, Dragon's Gate:
"...They're here..." Limstella said absent-mindedly. She then froze. HE was there too. She could feel him. His sword. The sword that had defeated her. "No...Why...I don't want to fight you..." Limstella muttered quietly, and felt tears sliding down her cheeks. "...What is this?" she thought out loud, not understanding why she was thinking like that. '...My clothes...they reek of death...I should probably change,' she thought, and went to her wardrobe. She was one of Nergal's special morphs; one of the 3 that are closest to being human-like. She, for some reason, like, Sonia, fancied having many different articles of clothing. Limstella threw her old robes away, and checked her wardrobe. She took out a loose white long-sleeved shirt, a black vest lined with gold on its sides with a red collar, a tail cloak which went down from her waist, also black with a red underside, a black leather belt, tight-fitting white pants, and black boots.
Outside, the army was gathering at the entrance to the Dragon's Gate. They were walking up to it, when suddenly, Kuro, Serene, and Ninian started twitching madly and clutched their heads while curling up into fetal positions. "Serene! What's wrong? Are you all right?" Eliwood asked the blue haired girl, but all he got from her was more shaking.
"...This place... so frightening. Something... powerful..." Ninian said very quietly in an almost inaudible voice. Then she started shaking again; it also got worse after a few seconds. The same thing happened with Kuro and Serene.
"They're getting worse! We have to get them away from here!" Hector told the rest of the group, and carried Kuro and Ninian on his shoulders. Eliwood agreed and picked up Serene. However, as they were walking away from the place, a purple cloaked man teleported in front of them to block their path.
"You'll not be going anywhere. Those little birds have escaped this island cage twice. Now that they're back, they'll not be allowed to fly away again," the cloaked man said to the group.
"Who are you?" Hector asked him angrily.
"We meet at last. I am Ephidel. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
"You're Ephidel? I've been looking forward to this," Hector growled, dropping Kuro and Ninian on the ground behind him. He clenched his knuckles in rage and hatred for the man.
"...Gallantly spoken. Of course, I know who you are. Marquess Ostia's younger brother, Lord Hector. And here we have Caelin's beloved princess, Lady Lyndis," Ephidel replied. "By the way, the gift I left for you in the forest... Was it to your liking? The corpse of that filthy red-haired traitor?" Ephidel asked them non-chalantly.
"Monster! Stay right there! I'm going to crush the life from you with my bare hands!" Hector yelled angrily at the cloaked man.
"Now I see! She was an Ostian spy, wasn't she? Don't worry, she did not suffer. It only took one blow..." Ephidel assured the heavily armored lord.
"Grrr...DIE!" Hector yelled, throwing a punch at Ephidel. However, the cloaked man teleported before it could connect. "Grr...COWARD!"
"Where did he go?" Eliwood looked around. Then Ephidel reappeared behind Hector.
"I'll be taking these, thank you," Ephidel said calmly, putting his hands on Serene and Ninian, while putting his right foot on Kuro. "They will be needed for my master's ceremony," Ephidel told them, and then teleported away with the 3 people he was touching.
Path to the Dragon's Gate:
"Lord Ephidel! Are they with you?" Darin asked the cloaked man as Ephidel teleported in front of him.
'Is he blind, or just stupid?' Ephidel thought, but decided that he shouldn't say that out loud. "As you can see..." Ephidel waved his hand towards the limp bodies of Kuro, Ninian, and Serene that lay on the ground to his left.
"Oho! The ritual can take place at last!"
"Yes. However, we have an infestation of mice to deal with... They should be scurrying in here momentarily. They must be dealt with before the ritual takes place. May I entrust this task to you?"
"Of course. Who do you think I am! I am Darin, Marquess Laus! Ruler of this world!"
"Very well. I leave it to you."
"Ruler of the world... Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Darin laughed like a maniac.
'Humans... They are so very fragile,' Ephidel thought as he teleported away, shaking his head with a sadistic smile on his face.
Dragon's Gate:
"Ah... you've done well. Precious Ephidel. Shall we prepare for the ritual?" Ephidel asked his morph, who just teleported there with the three dragons.
"Nergal!" Elbert called angrily at the dark druid.
"Does it gall you, Marquess Pherae? It's destiny. There could be no other outcome. Despite all of your mischief, the children were fated to return to me," Nergal said to the marquess, smiling wickedly.
"My son... Where is Eliwood?"
"He's still alive. Of course, it's only a matter of time before the Black Fang finishes him."
"...Nergal! Prepare to die!" Elbert yelled, and took out his sword out of its scabbard. He then ran at Nergal in rage. However, Jaffar appeared out of nowhere and stabbed Elbert. "Gah!"
"...That was a surprise. When did he undo his bonds? Heh heh... Why do you not heed my warnings, Lord Elbert? You cannot alter destiny. Stop this foolishness," Nergal said maliciously to the marquess of Pherae. "Jaffar, take Marquess Pherae and the children to the far chamber. I will begin preparations for the ritual."
Jaffar nodded silently, and started carrying the bodies of the 4 said figures.
Path to the Dragon's Gate again:
"Many foes block our path; from the looks of it, many enemy cavaliers and knights are out there, as well as mages and snipers. This will be difficult," Mark commented. "We should separate our group into 4. One will be the one that stays here to protect Merlinus and Hannah. Eiji and Marcus, that's your job. We'll need one to go straight north, one to go northwest, and one to go northeast. This won't be an easy fight...Hiro, you lead one group, I'll lead another one, and Hilda, you lead the last. I'll take the northeast path, and Hilda will take the northwest. Prepare your Armorslayers and Horseslayers; we'll need those today. Be careful out there."
Matthew ran through the enemy forces as if they were air; no one ever saw the thief this enraged. He snuck through the shadows, and cut through the enemy ranks mercilessly. As he did so, tears were sliding down his eyes in his rage. He cleared the way for most of the crew; they had to walk over many dead bodies before they finally caught up with the thief. Matthew finally took a break to catch up on breathing. He sheathed his sword, and looked at his hands. They were full of blisters; some of them already popped. He finally noticed how much his hands hurt. But he would not give up, not until Leila was avenged. Guy was worried. Very worried. This was his best friend that had gone insane with rage; Matt might make a mistake that will end his life. Guy sprinted past the group to catch up to the thief, and Rebecca followed him out of concern.
A purple haired man, wearing a headband of a darker shade of the same color with a scar on his face walked up the stairs leading up to the battlefield. He yawned; it was rather boring, but then he heard the commotion outside, and saw a soldier walking towards him.
"Hey, you! What are you doing there!" the soldier asked the lanky man.
"What am I doing? Is that a proper greeting? If you don't know me, you must be a new recruit, yes?" the older man replied, looking hurt.
"Uh... I was assigned to the Dragon's Gate about one month ago..." the soldier looked embarrassed.
"I thought as much. I am Legault. You've heard my name, yes?"
"Legault...Ah! You... You're the Hurricane? Second in ability to none but the Four Fangs?" the soldier asked him, and moved back in some fear.
"Yes, yes. That's me," Legault said nonchalantly, looking at his nails.
"I... I beg your pardon," the scared soldier replied, and ran away in fear.
"No worries. ...Now then, time to fill my purse with treasure and leave the Black Fang behind. No sense staying on a sinking ship. No sense at all..." Legault said to himself, as he began running to go yoinking.
"(pant...pant) Matthew was breathing heavily as he ran, being followed by Guy and Rebecca. He was in a berserker rage; not seeing where he was going at all and jumping like a monkey on enemy soldiers, stabbing them here and there. He took any sword better than his that the enemies he felled had in their hands, and continued to fight on. He thought he saw Darin, but he didn't care. He just moved onwards...
Legault thought he heard screams of pain and fear. Curious, he walked in the shadows to see what it was. To his horror, he saw a brunette swordsman quickly slaying everything in his path with a Killing Edge in a mad berserker rage. 'Yikes,' Legault thought, 'Better not stay here too long...'
Matthew saw movement in the shadows. 'Another thief?' he thought. 'Whatever.' And with that, Matthew lunged for Legault's throat.
'Shit! He saw me?' Legault thought. 'Well, might as well knock him into his senses. Hm? What's this?' he thought, as he saw Matt being restrained by Rebecca and Guy. However, Matt proved too strong and pushed them both off as he began lunging towards Legault again. 'Well, there's no way I can beat him like that, so...'
Legault ran farther into the shadows. When he was far enough, he ran up the wall and hid on the ceiling, waiting for Matt to come so he could ambush the younger swordsman. Matt, however, saw Legault up on the ceiling, and chucked an iron sword at him. Legault dropped to avoid a would-be deathblow, but he twisted his ankle upon landing. "Wait!" Legault held up his hand to surrender.
"Grr...She died...You've killed her...I'll kill all of you..." Matthew muttered very quietly between deep breaths. "I will leave none alive!"
"...Was it the Ostian spy?"
"...Did you do it?"
"...No. But I know the man who did."
"TELL ME WHERE HE IS!"
"...I can't do that. I don't like selling my friends out. But you are with the Pheraean noble coming here, yes? I'd like to join you."
"JOIN US? JOIN US? You...CRAVEN CUR!" Matthew yelled angrily as he leapt up to strike down the Hurricane. However, Guy caught him and pinned him to the ground with the help of Rebecca.
"Don't talk to him...GAH!...Talk to...the lords! Gah! Down, Matthew!" Guy yelled, struggling to keep the crazy thief down.
"There's Darin!" Eliwood exclaimed. He could see the mad general sitting on a throne. However, Legault jumped in his path.
"Excuse me, but are you Eliwood?" Legault asked him.
"Uh...yeah, what's wrong?"
"I would like to lend my services to you. I am a thief, like your psychotic homicidal spy back there. Also, I am doing this to quit the Black Fang, and I...kind of need protection because they'll be hunting me down..." Legault twiddled his thumbs.
"I see. Well, any inside information could be useful. Welcome to the group."
"I'm Legault, or as the Black Fang calls me, the Hurricane."
Hector reached Darin first, while Eliwood was talking with Legault. "Oh... You're Marquess Ostia's younger brother..." Darin said, mockingly.
"I couldn't care less if you've a grudge against Ostia. I'll put up with your treachery no longer!" Hector yelled angrily, and readied his Wolf Beil.
"Heh Heh heh... Ostia is no longer my main concern... Nor is the whole of Lycia... The only goal worthy of my attention is the entire world!" Darin boomed. Then he laughed maniacally. He then took out a Steel Lance, and entered a fighting stance. "Hah...hah ha ha! You dare challenge me? I, who will rule the world?"
"You're going down!"
Hector took a Hand Axe off his belt, and chucked it at Darin. Darin laughed at this feeble attempt of an attack, and swept it aside with his lance. However, he underestimated Hector. Very badly. Hector was a lot closer than he was before. Hector threw another hand axe, and Darin swept it away again, laughing. However, he stopped laughing when he saw Hector right in front of him, and clunked away to avoid getting hit by Hector's Wolf Beil.
Hector's axe was stuck in the ground. Darin grinned, and then clunked towards Hector, planning to impale the young Ostian. However, this was part of Hector's plan. The young lord swung his axe upwards with great force, cutting through Darin's armor. Darin yelped in pain, but recovered quickly enough to parry a blow with his lance. It was Hector's turn to be stunned; his axe now lay on the ground far from his left side after getting it swatted away. Darin grinned, and thrust his lance at Hector. Hector, however, made a lucky dodge by rolling towards his axe, but not close enough. He saw a lance coming towards his head, when...
BAM!
Darin's lance was blown out of his hand by a fireball; Cierra and Eliwood had arrived to help.
"Hector!" Eliwood called to his friend, who retreated after picking up his axe to meet with Eliwood and Cierra. "Are you all right?"
"Never better. Damn that Darin..." Hector cursed.
"You must be careful, Hector. You could have at least waited for us..."
"Whatever. Let's take him down."
A barrage of fireballs blocked Darin's view of his opponents; he couldn't see the lords running up towards him. He felt a sharp stab towards his gut; luckily, Hector didn't slice through that part yet. However, it sent him staggering backwards. As he recovered, he dodged a vertical axe strike from Hector, and punched the young lord in the face. He turned around, only to get his armor cut down by Eliwood's sharp sword. Eliwood jabbed his rapier into Darin's lance arm, making the general cry out in pain. As he struggled to get it out, Darin punched Eliwood in the gut, and swatted him away.
Darin took the rapier out of his arm gingerly. 'Damn...They...No...I can't be defeated! I will rule the world!' he thought, and a smile broadened on his face.
He ran to the throne, and took something from the back. It was a lance. It gleamed brightly in the torchlight that lit the hallways. Its tip was strangely decorated. Where the sharp blade met the metal staff, it had rainbow strings tied to it. Its staff was colored like a rainbow as well. The tip looked like a dragon head breathing fire; the dragon head part was green, and the fire, of course, red. "The Gungnir! With this, I cannot lose!" he yelled triumphantly, and held it in his remaining usable arm. "Come, and try to defeat me now!"
He slammed the lance into the ground, creating a powerful shockwave that made Hector, Cierra, and Eliwood stumble and fall in their run towards him. Darin grinned. He took this time to hook his new lance onto the chain that previously held his steel lance. Then he swung it around like a mace, and tossed it at Eliwood.
Eliwood barely rolled away from it. The lance was stuck in the ground now, and Darin was having trouble pulling it up with only one arm. Eliwood struck the staff of the lance with his sword, hoping to break it, but failed horribly. He got a nasty shake as the rapier merely bounced off the staff, and shattered. Darin pulled the lance successfully, and prepared to attack again. This time his target is Cierra, who is helping Hector get up. Darin smirked; the girl would be too busy helping her lord up to notice. "DIE!" he yelled.
Cierra looked in horror as the lance flew towards her. However, Hector simply pushed her back down, and swung his axe upwards to push the lance away. Hector got his desired result, or somewhat, at least. The Gungnir went flying away to his side, but since it was so hard, Hector's axe fell back into the ground and its blade was chipped.
Cierra took this time to start chanting madly. Darin was too busy pulling his lance in to notice the slight hum which is the mage's voice. Soon, Cierra yelled, "Enchant Weapon!"
Hector's axe burned with fire as Darin turned his head towards the source of the sound. He panicked when he saw Hector's flaming Wolf Beil. Hector ran quickly towards the general, who was trying to quickly pull his lance back, which is hard with only one usable hand.
Darin was about to finally reach his lance; Hector was still about 4 meters away. However, he was struck by a powerful explosion of light on his pulling arm, distracting him and completely disabling the general; Eliwood had gotten hold of a Light Brand that Legault gave him earlier. Darin looked back towards Hector in horror to see that Hector had already gained great spinning speed in a whirlwind attack. Darin felt tremendous amounts of pain as his torso was severed from his body. The heat of the flaming Wolf Beil easily melted his armor and sliced off the top of his body.
"Phew..." Hector panted.
"Great job, Hector. But we can't rest now. My father..." Eliwood stopped short.
"I know. Come on!"
Hector, Cierra, and Eliwood quickly went onwards; Lucifer saw this and followed them.
Lucifer ran faster and used his mad skillz to disappear. He ran ahead of the lords and Cierra to check on a few things. As he predicted, he found her there. "Limstella," he greeted her, making the morph leap backwards in fright at the sound of his voice. "I suggest you get out of here if you want to live. Eliwood's coming for his father."
"Oh...it's just you..." Limstella said as she let out a sigh of relief. "I'm leaving soon anyways for it is an order from my lord..."
"Nergal? You still work for him?"
"I don't work for him. I...I am..."
"You're what?"
"I..." however, Limstella was interrupted by the loud clanking of Hector's armor. "I must go," she said.
"But what are you?" Lucifer asked her again.
"I am..." she slowly said as she started disappearing, "...his slave..." Then she just disappeared from sight.
"...Sla...slave...?" Lucifer slowly repeated her words. "What the hell?"
"Father! Dad!" Eliwood called loudly for Elbert, looking around madly as well. Hector and Cierra looked around as well. Eliwood heard a faint cry coming from in front of him, and went to the source. He found his father a beaten and fatigue-ridden man.
"...Eli...wood?" Elbert slowly said as he struggled to get his head up to look up at his son.
"I'm here dad, don't worry, we'll get you out," Eliwood said soothingly. "Let's go."
However, he heard a loud yelp as soon as he got up. He turned around to see Hector and Cierra's path being blocked by a young assassin. "Get out of our way!" Hector yelled at him and threw a Hand Axe at him. The assassin simply tilted his head down to dodge it like it was nothing. "Im...Impossible..." Hector said.
"Don't!" Elbert gasped, and choked. "Don't...fight...that man...he's too strong..."
"But...father...we've got to get you out of here," Eliwood protested. However, he heard a wooshing sound. He looked towards its source to find Ephidel.
"I'd listen to your father's last words, were I you," Ephidel advised. "This is going to be the last few minutes you'll spend with him, until the eternity that is death, that is."
"What do you mean?"
"My master Nergal would like to give you a reward for your hard fought struggle to get here. Now...LET THE CURTAINS RISE!"
"NO!" Elbert yelled in a begging tone. "Please! Stop this! You must not awaken the dragons!"
"Too late," Ephidel said, and snapped his fingers. At that instant, Elbert started choking and immediately went limp.
"F...Father!" Eliwood cried, but there was no response.
Nergal appeared from out of nowhere and said, "Now, dragon children, OPEN THE GATES!"
Kuro, Serene, and Ninian appeared in front of a giant gate. Kuro started chanting something inaudible, and the girls soon followed. The gate slowly opened to reveal a white and orange vortex behind it. Slowly, something large walked out of it. Very slowly. The three kept on chanting and the large figure slowly crawled out.
"Yes...use all your power! You will call the dragons out!" Nergal said happily.
"I will not allow this!" a boy's voice loudly said from the shadows. A flute went flying towards Kuro's head and smashed straight on, knocking him out, and breaking the girls out of their trances.
"NO! Not you!" Nergal exclaimed. Nils ran out of the shadows, picked up his flute, and pulled his sister towards Eliwood's group. However, as he did this, the portal started working in reverse. The giant red dragon was being pulled back in, and it was screaming in pain. It's like its own creation was being reversed; his wings started to disassemble into tiny little particles. He too, shrunk, and was clawing at the floor futilely to keep from being sucked in. The portal grew wider into a storm with flesh-tearing gales and electricity.
"Phew..." Eliwood breathed heavily; he ran into the storm while it was still light and managed to carry Serene out. However, Kuro was still inside and was slowly getting dragged inside.
The storm was getting stronger and bigger. Nergal himself was getting sucked in. "No! Lord Nergal, you must leave this place!" Ephidel pleaded to his master, who simply huffed and teleported away. "Lord...LORD NERGAAA...AIEAAAA!" Ephidel shrieked in pain as he was engulfed in the storm as well.
"Kuro!" Hiro called to his friend, but got no reply. "I've got to save him!" He dashed towards the storm.
"You're out of your mind!" Lucifer exclaimed as he grabbed Hiro's hand to keep the young myrmidon from killing himself. "Didn't you see how it annihilated Ephidel in a second?"
"Let go of me! FIRE!" Hiro used his other hand to cast a fire spell that sent Lucifer flying backwards. "SCORCHING HELL!" Hiro sent a powerful heat wave into the storm, creating a small pathway into its center, the presumed location of the dragon boy, who is hopefully still alive. Hiro ran inside the pathway towards the eye of the storm.
"Kuh!" Lucifer grunted. "You dumbass..."
The group ran away from the area to avoid getting killed by the storm.
Soon after, the storm dissipated, but there remained no traces of Kuro, Hiro, nor Ephidel, according to Legault's and Matthew's reports.
"Heh...do...uh...heavy losses occur often in your group?" Legault asked Mark.
"...No," Hilda answered for him. "Actually, no one from our group of misfits has actually died while under the command of Mark, myself, and that young myrmidon who ran into the storm to save his friend. He, like the two of us, was a graduate of the tactician academy. He..." A tear slowly slid down her cheek. A few dropped to the floor under Mark's hooded head. Hilda couldn't continue talking; she tried to hold back her tears.
"He's...a good friend. Let's leave it at that," Mark said. He then walked away from Hilda and Legault into his room to cry his sorrows away. 'It's...too soon. He couldn't be gone...could he?' the shaman thought. 'But...how could anyone survive that storm? Even Ephidel...'
"DAMMIT!" Hector cursed. He slammed his axe into the ground in a fit of rage. "Damn that Nergal...our losses weren't many, but they were great in significance..."
Lyn just finished making crude crosses from tree branches to make graves for Kuro and Hiro nearby Leila's grave; Matthew, Mark, and Hilda helped as well.
"Heh..."Mark grunted, "I...I supposed you figured you'd have a grander ending, friend..."
"Father...I hope mother won't kill me after seeing you like this..." Eliwood softly wiped away a tear from his usually cheerful face. He laid down his father's corpse in a coffin and heaved it into the group's supply caravan.
The Dragon Lands:
"Xiphias!" a silver dragon burst inside the room of the elder silver dragon.
"What is it?"
"Your son has returned!"
"WHAT?"
"And he has two others with him; a young human boy and...a...a girl RED DRAGON!"
"A red dragon...and...did you say human?"
R&R! I'LL BE BACK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. MEANING I HAVE NO FRIKKIN' IDEA.